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Pastimes : THE SLIGHTLY MODERATED BOXING RING -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (11263)	4/29/2002 12:33:06 PM
From: Solon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21057

"Public agencies base their existence on political calculations of the politicians Of course, it is a political response to a public need. That is why it is called public service. That is why you have a President (unproductive?), a House of Representatives (unproductive?), and millions of other dedicated workers. You have very cavalierly tossed off your belittling comments against public employees, and insinuated by your stereotyping that they are of lesser character and ability (character and ability being the principle predictors of quality and quantity of output). "Its possible that these standards and being "watched by a million eyes" may make government workers perform there jobs quicker and more efficiently then in the private sector (although comparing the post office to Fed Ex doesn't support this idea), but that doesn't mean that are doing practically useful work." And it doesn't mean they are not, so it doesn't support your argument in any way, merely obfuscates the discussion. Nor does it mean that any particular private company is doing useful work (such as flipping burgers at a hundred miles an hour, and crushing them between buns while relish, ketchup, sweat, and nasal mucus are pressed together into a scrumptious production). But in both cases they are doing work that is thought to be in "demand". As I said previously, the difference is that the public service employees generally have a higher educational and skill level (both elements of productivity), and generally have more to lose through losing their job because of non productivity. Also, the competition is generally very keen. Public employees are subject to outside surveys and evaluations independent of internal interests. They are subject to objective evaluation outside of the partiality and nepotism which always obtains in the private sector. Add to that the internal reviews, the accountability to the public, and the strict documentation...and you create an extremely competitive and productive environment. This is not to say that the employees of some private companies are not productive. But a private company can often be successful with employees who are rather unproductive. "I might let you have the last word on this in response to this post, rather then going around in circles on it" That is entirely up to you. As I said (what is it now--about 5 times?): I did not wish to characterize either sector at the expense of the character of the other. We know that employees are productive, or not, primarily as a result of character. And we know that working at a burger joint does not make you a bad person, and working changing bed pans at a nursing home does not make you a bad person. So stereotyping either sector as unproductive, and not useful (lazy and useless for those who do not follow your delicate and polite manner of arguing), seemed to me to be an ugly prejudice which insulted the millions of wonderfully educated, skilled, and dedicated workers who devote their efforts to the betterment of a great and wonderful country...right up the the office of El Presidente. So naturally I took the other side of an ugly necessity, although I closed each post with the request that you cease and desist from such stereotypical disparagement of your fellow citizens. You are free, of course, to do as you will--as am I.